Not every angel wears a shining gold halo. Like the story of Dusty, the little white bichon fries, that saved her master trapped in a car wreck at night, in the rain, and in the middle of nowhere. Or Mia, the yellow lab that detected her loving owner’s cancer after it had been missed by a mammogram. On the lighter side, we have the tale of a cat that raised a litter of starving abandoned pups.

These are not just stories of cats and dogs, however. There are horses, deer, and elephants too. There’s even a parrot whose calls for help brought rescue for a man whose own cries had gone unheard.

These are God’s creatures, but each of them behaves like anything but an animal. In fact, when all hope seemed utterly lost, they were also the answer to the most desperate prayers.